Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-11-18
THE CRIME AND THE CRIMINALS.

| Brief Review of the Haymarket Tragedy
Biographies of the Nortorious Seven
| All are familiar with the agitations
leading up to the Haymarket massacre
and reiteration of the facts are not
| necessary. May 4. 1856, was a day of in
| tense excitement and in the evening a
crowd of about 1900 gathered at the
| Haymarket. About 9 O'Clock Spies,
| Parsons, Fielden and other leaders ap-
! peared, mounted in wagon standing in
| Desplaines street, where the approach of
| the police could be seen, anG ad-
| dressed the crowd in the order
! named, the remarks of the latter being
| bitter and infammatory in the extreme.
At this point Capt. Bonfield ordered ont
seven companies of police, about 175
| men and ordered the mob to quietly dis
perse. Then came the memorable bomb
explosion killing one officer, Matthias
j. Degan outright mOrtelly wounding
six Others who died after a few days of
suffering. and so seriously ihjuring six
Others that they were disabled for weeks
and months. An anarchist was also killed
| outright. The police rallied and charged
the mob with revolvers and clubs and it
is estimated that about score of the
socialists were killed and $50 wounded.
was raided and August Spies, editor-in-
chief and manager of the paper;
Michael Schwab, associate editor:
Charles Spies, brother of August;
Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Holmes, associate
editor; eighteen printers, two reporters
and two messengers, were arrested.
Among the printers was Adolph Fischer,
who was heavily armed. All exec pt pies,
Schwab ard Fischer were subsequently
released. After the inquest the other
prisoners were held without bail. Ru-
dolph Schnaubelt was arrested also, but
was released. II afterward appear ed that
he was the man who threw the bomb. He
was again looked for, but had fed to Eu-
rope, and has never been found. On May
9th the grand jury returned Indictments
against Spies, Fielden, Schnaubelt, Fisch-
er, Lining, EngeI, Schwab, Neebe, An
ton Herschburger and John APPEL.
The last two were not tried,
as the evidence was noe strong
enough to convict. Neebe who took
charge of the Arbeiter Zeitung after
Spies arrest was at once arrested. The
anarchists were tried before Judge Gary,
the case lasting from June q, to August
20, inclusive. 4 he time until July Is, was
expended in securing jury, 1921 tales
men, in all, being examined.
Counsel who appeared in the case was:
For the state-State's Attorney Julius S.
Grinnell, Frank Walker, and Edmund
Furthmann, his assistants, and George C.
Ingham. For defendants-Capt. w. z.
Black, Moses Solomon, Sigmund ZeisIer,
and w. A. Foster.
The arguments in the trial lasted from
August IL to 10. The jury, which WAS out
from $3.50 p. m, August 10, to 10 O'Clock
next morning, returned q verdict OF
guilty against ali of the defendants, fix
ing the death penalty for all except
Neebe, who was given fifteen years in the
penltentiGry.
The motion for new trial came up be-
fore Judge Gary Oct. L, and was argued
for six days. Judge Gary overruled the
motion. Three days were spent in hear
ing !the speeches of the condemned.
Judge Gary then sentenced the prisoners,
fixing December 3, as the day of exeau-
tion. A supercedeas was granted by
Justice Scott, of the supreme court on
November 81. On March II aud Is, 1887
the case was brought before the Illinois
supreme court, at Ottawa, on a writ OF
error, and arguments heard on q motion
for reversal of the verdict of the court
below. The supreme court, however, sus-
tanned the judgment of the criminal court
of Cock county, in a lengthy opinion
rendered September IA. And so the
prisoners were sentenced TO be
hanged on the 11th of November. An
appeal was then made TO the supreme
court of the United States, the chief al
legation being that the accused had not
been tried by an ''impartial jury" as re-
quired by the national constitution. The
supreme court rendered Its decision on
November I'd, affording DO relief to the
doomed men.